Healthy Piano Technique and the Prevention of Professional Injuries: An Exploration of the Schmidt-Shklovskaya-Minsker Method and its Implementation in Piano Pedagogy

This research focuses on the teaching method developed by two piano pedagogues whose work with pianists' professional injuries is widely known and appreciated in Russia. Anna Schmidt-Shklovskaya based her system on the views and practice of Ivan Kryzhanovsky, a musician and medical doctor who studied piano-related injuries. Her student Galina Minsker brought a new perspective to the Schmidt-Shklovskaya method by studying the theory of multi-levelled motor control, as authored by Russian neuroscientist Nicholai Bernstein, and applying it to her practical work with piano students. A variety of ideas that were dominant in piano pedagogy throughout the 300-year history of the instrument are also examined with a particular emphasis on healthy piano technique in the context of the mind-body-instrument relationship. An application of "The Schmidt-Shklovskaya-Minsker Method" to general piano pedagogy is described, and the benefits of the method for students' musical and technical development are explored.